Momentive Performance announces management changes

The Colonie-based manufacturer of adhesives, sealants, resins and other materials, which has its major manufacturing plant in Waterford, named a former Paxar Corp. CFO to be chief financial officer of Momentive Performance Materials Inc. and its parent company, Momentive Performance Materials Holdings Inc.

Anthony Colatrella will relocate to the Albany area to assume the new positions, which also include CFO positions at certain Momentive subsidiaries.

The company also appointed Steven Delarge president and CEO of Silicones Americas and Shawn Williams president and CEO of Global Sealants. Previously, Delarge was Momentive’s CFO while Williams was president and CEO of Silicones Americas.

The sealants and adhesives business, previously U.S. based, is now globally based, said Momentive spokesman John Scharf. Williams will move from his office in Waterford to corporate headquarters in Colonie.

“We are pleased to announce these leadership changes, and are thrilled to have Tony Colatrella join the Momentive team,” said Jonathan Rich, the company’s president and CEO. “His experience is a terrific fit for Momentive.”

Colatrella helped lead the sale of Paxar to Avery Dennis Corp. for $1.34 billion, a 70 percent return to shareholders, according to Momentive. Before that he spent eight years at Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. He also worked at United Technologies Corp., and began his career in 1977 with Verizon Corp.

Momentive is struggling with slowdowns in the housing, automotive and textiles businesses, which it supplies, and has cut the pay of most of its blue-collar workers, a move that resulted in a charge filed by the workers’ union with the NLRB.

The company temporarily laid off 200 workers during the Thanksgiving and Christmas periods, and said the wage cuts and restructuring were part of an effort to avoid permanent job cuts.

It also eliminated overtime work, so that many employees saw wage reductions deeper than the 25 percent average cut in base pay.

Momentive is the former GE Advanced Materials division, which included GE Silicones. Apollo Management L.P. acquired the business from GE in 2006.